Some Slovenian ornaments with carnations, taken from the work "Slovenska krasilna umetnost" (Slovenian Ornamental Arts) by Ivan Razborek, published in Celje 1992.

Dr. Josef avli, FAS, KdB, FSAIThe Augustan Society Omnibus, Book 13,Torrance (Calif.), 1991Knight de BryanFellow of The Augustan SocietyFellow of Sodality of the Ark International

Among the distinctive marks which represent the existence of various nations, we don't find only coats of arms but also many other symbols, such as various animals and plants, and graphic pictures too, which display the characteristics of several countries. In Europe, since the Age of the Renaissance, floral symbols have gained in importance. Some flowers, like the rose in England, became not only a local badge, but also a well-known national symbol. But in popular art and customs, other flowers were used as national symbols without having been officially recognized as such. These floral symbols, known by all, merit our attention and in particular, the carnation.

Since immemorial times, flowers had a special function in human life and culture. Ancient people considered flowers nature's wedding garment, announcing its coming fruits. Their beauty and their beckoning fragrances made them believe that a soul dwelt in each flower. Their richness in shapes and colours were considered the reflection of a lost paradise. The abundance of flowers conjured up festive surroundings and the joyfulness of life. People decorated temples and statues with flowers; they made and carried bouquets and wreaths, and adorned graves too. In Christianity, flowers meant hope of Resurrection. Christ himself has been regarded as a blossom on the shoot, which germinated from Jesse's root.

In heraldry, images of flowers may be found in the Middle Ages. In the twelfth century, the French royal coat of arms showed an image of the lily (fleur de lis). Later on, the English tradition accepted the rose and placed it on badges; in Scotland, we find the thistle, and in Ireland, the three-leafed clover. In Japan, the chrysanthemum has for centuries been the queen of flowers and the national symbol.

In the nineteenth century, during the age of Romanticism in Europe, the idea of the national flower, in the search for a symbol of unity, became more and more accepted by national movements. As an example, Germany chose the corn flower as its badge.

In this century the carnation became one of the most beloved blossoms in Europe. The Slovenes chose it among all flowers as their national symbol, for it was the most appreciated and the most widely cultivated.

Dianthus

Dianthus is the scientific name of the carnation or pink introduced by the famous Swedish botanist C. Linne (Linnaeus) in the eighteenth century. Before that, it was commonly called Caryohyllus.

In fact, the carnation had already been mentioned as »Dianthus« by Theophrastus, a Greek naturalist living in the fourth century BC. In his workHistoria Plantarum(VI 1, 6), he described the »Dios anthos«, i.e., the flower of Zeus, as a bushy plant without fragrance. His statement must have referred to the species called Dianthus selvaticusgrowing in Epirus, as this is the only pink without scent.

In the Roman period special attention was given to the carnation. However, in the first century BC it was mentioned byPlinyin hisHistoria Naturalis(XXI, 59) as »Iovis flos«, i.e., Jupiter's flower. Obviously this name had been taken over from Theophrastus. At that time, however, only species of wild carnations with rather simple blossoms existed. Yet, in the Middle Ages the carnation was cultivated as a medical plant. The species calledDianthus caryophyllus, today's garden pink with its numerous varieties, was used for this purpose. In this respect, France was the first country where cultivation of the pink spread after the failed Crusade of King Louis IX (1214 - 1270) in Tunis in 1270. A beverage acquitted from the pink was used to mitigate the aches of the plague-stricken.

In the following century the carnation was mentioned by the French chronicler and poet,J. Froissart(1337 - 1410), and acknowledged also by the Flemish painter, the well-knownJan van Eyck(1386 - 1441), who painted the picture called »Man with the pink«. Later, the deposed successor to the throne of Naples, René d'Anjou(1409 - 1480), after retiring to Aix en Provence, cultivated carnations and documented the first notes about the growth of this flower (1446). The carnation was considered an important health plant at that time.

In the Gothic Age, a period of deep spiritualism and mysticism, the carnation was believed to be one of the flowers in the biblical allegory ofHortus conclusus, referred to in the High Song (4 12) of the Old Testament. TheHortus conclususwas an allegory of paradise imagined and depicted as a closed garden with fresh water, full of marvelous plants and animals, in which divine peace reigned. Outside, the earth looked like a desert without life.

This image attracted many well-known painters, such as - St. Lochner(ca. 1410 - 1451), -M. Grünwald(ca. 1475 - 1528) and -M. Schongauer(1453 - 1491) and others, they all included the carnation in the scenes of Hortus concusus. The artist M. Schongauer made a copper engraving titled »Mary with the bunch of pinks«. ortus conclusus. Even the Emperor, Maximilian I, in the so-called »Last Night«, was portrayed with a pink in his hand by the Flemish painter Lucas van Leyden(1494 1533).

During the Renaissance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the carnation, although still a simple blossom, became alove symbol. It appeared on many engagement paintings, completed by famous masters likePisanello, Cranach Sr., Wohlgemut, Holbein Sr., Dürerand others.

Its »heavenly« nature, however, persevered. The famous Italian painter Raffaello Santi(1483 - 1520) depicted a scene showing »Mary with little Jesus and John«, and in it Jesus was holding a carnation in His hand. The preacher and naturalist H. Bock, in hisKräuter Buch(Strasbourg 1546) named the carnation »Märgen Röslin«, Mary's floweret. Formerly, the flower of Our Lady was merely a rose symbolizing her suffering with its thorns. Later on, the carnation also represented Mary's and God's love to us.

At that time the carnation was still considered a medical plant. Its sap helped against the plague and its scent against other contagious diseases. Afterwards it was cultivated widely in gardens and also studied by botanists and naturalists of that time. The German scholarL. Fuchs (1501 - 1566), professor at the University of Tübingen, mentioned it in his book"De historia stirpium"(Basle 1542). The Swiss naturalist C. Gesner(1516 - 1565) mentioned it in the"Gesneri opera botanica"issued posthumously (Nuremberg 1751), and after him another Swiss scholar,C. Bauhin(1560 - 1624), described it as well. The Italian medical manP. A. Mattioli(1500 - 1577), who was the physician-inordinary of both Emperor Ferdinand I and Maximilian II, did not overlook the carnation in his commentaries.

In the Netherlands at that time, the cultivation and study of plants were particularly advanced. Among numerous Dutch botanists referring to the carnation in their essays, the three best known are:R Dodoens(Dodonaeus, 1517 - 1585), in his work "Stirpium historia pemptades sex"(1583, 1616),M. de l'Obel(Lobelius, 1538 - 1616), especially in his "Krydboek"(1581), andCh. de l'Ecluse(Clusius, 1526 - 1609), in his book"Rariorum plantarum historia"(1601).

The English herbalistW. Turnerdescribed the carnation in hisHerbal(1550), and so did the English botanistJ. Gerard(1545 - 1612) in anotherHerbal(1597). In France special research about the cultivation of the pink had been published. A description of it is found, for instance, in the book entitled"Théatre d'agriculture et mesnage de champs"written byOlivier de Serres. In Paris, the following treatises about its cultivation were printed:Jardinage des oeillets(1668) by L. B. (an unknown writer) andNouveau traité des oeillets(1676) by L. C. B. M. (likewise unknown). The rebellious duke, theGrand Condé(1521 - 1586), imprisoned in Vincennes by Queen Anne d'Autriche (1560) and then released by the prime minister Cardinal Mazarin, dedicated himself to the cultivation of carnations. In this respect, the well-known poetessMademoiselle de Scudéry, observed »Et ne t'etonne plus que Mars soit jardinier«. In the same century the famous English authorW. Shakespeare(1564 - 1616) mentioned the carnation inThe Winter's Tale(1610). The German poet J. W. Goethe(1749 - 1832) was also enraptured with its beauty, as he said in the"Versuch, die Metamorphose der Pflanze zu erklären".

During the French Revolution (1789) the white carnation was the sign of the supporters of the monarchy, the red one, of the revolutionary movements. In the 1880's the red carnation was worn by the followers of the French nationalist G. Boulanger, and around that time it was also chosen as the insignia of the socialists.

The Slovenian Ornament

A decorative style containing elements which reflect the people's temperament, spirit, and experience has been developed in the popular art of each nation. The Slovenian popular ornament reached its summit in the past century and in the period before World War I. In this ornament, the picture of the stylizedred carnationbecame the most important component. Nevertheless, the origins of this ornament can be found in prehistory. It developed from thewavy line, an ancient symbol showing power and strength. This sign, which appeared in Europe in the early Stone Age, was engraved on earthenware of the fourth millennium BC. Ornamented vessels from this period bear abroken line in zig-zag form. There are also vessels with a wavy line that later on became more and more frequent, and it was predominant on ornamented earthenware after the second millennium BC.

The wavy line is a mark of eternal energy, as perceived and experienced by man in particular, when his very existence depended on the cultivation of crops in soil warmed by rays of the sun. This was the source of growth which gives rise to life itself. Primitive men experienced all this energy as cosmic motion. He discovered it in the rotation of the sun or while looking at the waving of grassland and grainfields in the wind or at waves in the water - the element of life.

In the Iron Age, after the ninth century BC and in the Roman period itself, the wavy line was predominant on monuments of Middle Europe, especially in Noricum and Pannonia, in full contrast with the old Greek and Roman tectonic style. In that period, the wavy line, often enriched withlinden-leaves, was obviously an expression of the non-Roman or indigenous tradition.

In the early Middle Ages, in the territory of the former Noricum, there arose the principality of Carantania. It was a Slovenian state, in which earthenware bore the wavy line as well. On Carantanian broaches and earrings can be seen many symbols of the early Christian age, such as thecross, lily, rosette, star, Angus Dei, tree of life, pigeon, panther.

In theRomanand in theGothic Agesthe Slovenian ornament assumed some hunt symbols (hound, fox), but it still remained very moderate. Only in the sixteenth century of the Renaissance it was enriched with new features, but they were still placed over wavy lines:deer, peacock, fish, the chalice, the monstrance, hearts, seraphic heads, monograms of Jesus and Mary, vines with grapes, bell-flowers,andcarnationsas well. Yet, at that time, the carnation did not play a special role in Slovenian popular culture.

During theBaroque period, however, abouquet of carnations in a vase, often combined with other flowers, frequently appeared in popular paintings, on linen chests, on sides of beehives, and on mirrors and windows. The popular culture in Slovenia experienced its full swing in the past century, in which the red carnation and its picture as a symbol of love, played an important role. The red carnation became the most significant sign of the Slovenian ornament which was enriched with new elements:Little animals and plants, bunches of other flowers, leverets, butterflies, little birds, roses, small baskets, decorative knots, tulips, catkins, linden leaves, poppy heads, pomegranates, spots and dashes, small leaves, and even a sentimental S-line derived from the wavy line and the ancient spiral. The whole ornament became an expression of love, with elements which seemed to be singing and brimming over with feelings. Thered carnationof this ornament in its stylized form then became the Slovenian insignia and one of the national signs.

The Slovenian flower

There was no shortage of using the carnation in Slovenian customs. Even today a red carnation represents charity and love. Acorsagemade up of red carnations, rosemary and scented geraniums(Pelargonium radula)meanslove, fidelity and hope. This corsage has been praised in Slovenian songs and used in popular customs. It was given to young men leaving for the army; the girls fastened it on the boy's chest.

In the countryside, especially in alpine areas, carnations are found on window sills; balconies and balustrades are full of pots with carnations. The peasant house with the carnation is characteristic in the Slovenian countryside. And even today Slovenian women compete in adorning their houses with flowers. Amid carnations and geraniums, the campanula(Campanula isophilla)is also to be found; the variety with blue blooms represents the bridegroom, while the white one is the symbol of the bride.

In Slovenia, there are many types of dwellings: The alpine, the subalpine, the Mediterranean, the Pannonian, and others. But each one has a special room, the drawing room (in Slovenianizba, from ist'ba, known in all Slavic languages, in German,Stube). This room was once the center of the house and therefore suitably equipped. On various pieces of furniture in the Slovenianizbaone can find frequently depicted carnations in the form of tendrils or wavy lines. Among these pieces, thecradlewas one of the most typical. It often bore Mary's image or the letters IHS with carnation ornamentation. This symbolically meant love to the child, a gift of God.

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Linen chest painted in Slovenian art from the surroundings of Kranjska gora (Upper Carniola) from 1840.

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In the middle it depicts the image of St. John Nepomuk, to his left and right a vase with carnations, the symbol of love.

One of the furniture pieces was the linen-box orwooden chest, which was frequently painted. Today such a chest is a valuable object and is in great demand by museums all over the world for popular art collections. There are usually three squares with paintings on front of this chest: In the middle is frequently found the monograms of Jesus and Mary, this is, IHS or MRA, as well as a pilgrim's image of Mary. On the side squares the ornamental tendril can often be seen with its carnation or other blossoms. But it could also show a vase with carnationsor other flowers. Thehope-chest, orbottom drawer, showing the prestige of the bride's home, was especially rich in paintings.

In embroidery, the carnation is usually red combined with blue and, as a trimming on a girl's dress, it has a green stalk which frequently has the feature of a wavy line. In former times the rich embroideredkerchief(orpeca, in Slovenian) was the pride of girls in the Slovenian Mediterranean and subalpine countryside, while in the alpine areas girls preferred to wear the characteristiccoif(avba, in Slovenian) adorned with embroidery on the front part. The trimmings on this head covering did not exclude the typical carnation.

In Slovenian ornamentation, the shape of thegarden carnation(Dianthus caryophyllus)is rarely used, with the exception of paintings on vases holding bouquets of carnations. Instead, the ornament bears mostly a stylized carnation picture, 15 species ofwild carnationsgrowing, and the serrated petals are especially characteristic of theDianthus plumarius.

The cultivation of carnations and their ornamental painting is also spread over other areas of Europe, especially in alpine regions like Carnia, Tyrol and Engadin. The carnation ornament embroidered with a stitched cross is found, for example, on cloth from Mustair valley (Switzerland) of 1680.

In France, carnations are widely cultivated, especially in the provinces of Lyon and Provence. In the Provençal town of Vence, on a festive day all buildings, streets and squares are decorated with thousands of carnations. In several French provinces in old times, the red carnation symbolized ardent love, and it was not proper to give a bouquet of these flowers openly to young girls.

In Bohemia over the past century, the carnation has been a most popular flower. In 1891, at the agricultural fair in Prague about 300 hybrids were exhibited. The carnation is frequently found in Bohemian ornamentation. The cultivation and use of carnations in popular ornamentation is also found in Hungary, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, and elsewhere. However, only in Slovenia it became a national symbol.

National flowers

Badges, like those from England, Scotland and Ireland, could be of old origin. But most of them, such as the German cornflower and even the Slovenian carnation, arose in more recent times.

Here we will mention some flowers which are favored by several groups of people in Europe and closely connected with their tradition. These flowers were the attributes of national signs, and sometimes of badges as well.

In Germany, Emperor William I (1797 - 1888) chose as his badge thecornflower(Centaurea cyanus)or Kornblume in German. Thus, he remembered the time when, as a small Prussian boy, he and his mother, menaced by Napoleon's troops, found refuge in a corn field, where he played with cornflowers. However, in German songs, the forget-me-not(Myosotis), a symbol of love, amity and memory, is mostly to be found.

In Poland, thecorn-poppy(Papaver rhoeas)recalls the blood of Poles spilled in many fights for their homeland. One Polish song says, »The red poppy under Mount Cassino is nourished from Polish blood «

For the Czechs, thescented thyme(Thymus serphyllum)is the best liked flower. In the Middle Ages it was known as »Mary's flower«. Its Czech name, materidouka, means »the mother's soul«. One of their popular songs tells about an orphaned child who was reminded of his dead mother by the scent of the plant growing on her tomb.

The Serbs consider thered peony(Paeonia triternata) their national flower, called bozurin Serbian. It symbolized their historic battle on the field of Kosovo (1389). Their song relates, »Long ago, from the Serbian blood, grew up the red-blue peony blossom of Kosovo« In Serbia, the lilac(Syringa vulgaris)is also a much esteemed flower.

In Bulgaria therose(Rosa)is the most widely cultivated flower. It grows in large fields and its blossoms are used for the extraction of perfume, a trade which has long been an important source of national income. The rose is therefore considered to be a Bulgarian flower. In the same manner in Macedonia, the opium-poppy(Papaver somniferum)became the national flower. Over the past century its cultivation and the export of opium has given important earnings to Macedonians.

In more recent times, symbolic flowers with their great importance to a national economy are promoted all over the world. In some cases however, they are witness to a much older tradition.

The Netherlands cannot be imagined without thetulip(Tulipa). Since 1637, when a veritable mania of tulip cultivation broke out in the country, this flower has always remained their favorite. In the Ukraine, in a similar way, thesunflower(Helianthus annuus), cultivated in large fields, became the national flower. In past times, the Ukrainians appreciated thekalynamore, i.e., the snowball tree(Vyburnum opulus), as well as theruzaor holly-hock (Althaea rosea), recalled in their songs. In White Russia, theflax(Linum)is retained as the national flower and emblem, for it is the most important plant in their agriculture.

The Russians esteemed thechamomile(Matricaria chamomilla), known in Russian asapotecnajafor its medical nature, whereas different species of it are generally calledromaka. However, it seems that in Russia recently thedaisy(Chrysanthemum leucanthemum)has become the national flower. In popular customs, this flower has been known as one of the love symbols for a long time. Russian girls pluck its petals one by one, saying alternately, »He loves me, he doesn't love me.« The last petal tells her the truth.

Some flowers have become national emblems even more recently. The Edelweiss(Leontopodium alpinum), formerly known as the flower of Salzburg and Tyrol, became famous as the Austrian flower.

The socialist ideologies, which for decades prevailed in Eastern Europe and in Asia, favored especially pictures of corn and rice as insignia, which enclosed the coats of arms of many countries. With recent political changes, these signs may be replaced.

It is definitely true that, floral symbols which have lost their traditional mystic meaning, are becoming today, above all, national emblems or insignia. They are coming more and more into vogue.

In ancient times people knew and appreciated the tree of life, which was not only a symbol of vegetation for their agriculture, but also a source of nourishment in thoughts, and so it served the welfare of the people. It was also a symbol of the nations life and prosperity and a relic of the original religion of men. The tree was seen as a residence of the Great Spirit.

The ancient Egyptians celebrated the sycomore as their tree of life; Babylonians, Assyrians and today's Arabians celebrated the date palm; Indians still worship the fig tree, the Greeks an olive tree, Russians a birch and so on.

Lipa V Rutu - Tolmin, Rut

Since times the immemorial linden tree has been considered the tree of life by the people of Central Europe, in the Alps, i.e. in Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and north of the Alps, i.e. in Bavaria, Lusatia, Mecklenburg, Poland and Pomerania. That covers all the territory between the Baltic and Adriatic Sea.

Many nations live in this territory. Today, they speak German, Italian and many Slavonic tongues such as Slovenian, Croatian, Czech, Slowakian, Polish and their dialects.

The linden tree was revealed through numerous common themes and popular traditions by the people, who are unique to the territory of Central Europe. The existence of Venetic culture in Central Europe makes them unique too.

These people, who scholars believe they were called Veneti, had settled in Europe long before the Romans and Celts. Their culture was connected to the Urnfield culture which in turn derived from the elder culture of Lusatia, south of Berlin. After 1200 BC the Urnfield culture was spread by the Veneti people in long campaigns through all parts of Europe.

In the following centuries groups of Veneti in remote areas assimilated within local communities, forming new cultures and nations. Today, many place names are reminders of these Venetian groups, like Ventnor on the Isle of Wight close to the south coast of England; Vannes in Brittany in the west of France and Venetico close to Milazzo in northern Sicily. Near Milazzo archaeologists have also found a large Urnfield.

In Central Europe, however, the Veneti settled throughout the whole area between the Baltic and Adriatic and created during the older Iron Age - i.e. after 800 B.C. - the famous Hallstatt culturewith its centre in the Eastern Alps (today"s Austria), which radiated power all over Europe.

Still during the Hallstatt culture, a village culture developed, which became typical in Central Europe. Its social structure was retained in the following La Tene culture (after 400 B.C.), spread by the Celts, as well as in theRoman period(after 200 B.C.) and from the Middle Ages to our culture. A very characteristic feature of the village culture is - the linden tree regarded as the holy tree or tree of life- which originated with the Veneti.

The social structure of the Celts was based on clans and, after them the same was to be said about the Germans . They worshipped the oak as the tree of life and this has remained a tradition of northern Germany - (the original German territory) - until today.

In ancient times the linden was mentioned - by Greek and Roman authors - but without the significance as a tree of life.

The Greek writerTheophrastusin his Historia Plantarum (4th B.C.) describes the linden tree. He states that in the time of Alexander the Great it was planted in the gardens of Babylon, but that it could not thrive there.

The linden tree also appears in Greek mythology, identified with the nymph named Phylira(the linden). When she was visited by god Cronos his wife Rhea arrived, so he transformed the nymph into a linden(phylira)and himself into a horse. For this reason the son of Phylira,Chiron, belongs to the centaurs with the bottom part of a horse.

Unlike other centaurs, who were well-known roisterers, Chiron was a gentle creature, full of benevolence, he had the biggest knowledge of medical plants and was educator of many Greek heroes. For this reason when he was hit by an arrow the divinities did not allow him to die. Instead they transformed him to a constellation where he remained forever as Sagitarius.

The personality of Chiron obviously reflects the properties of the linden, especially as a medical plant. Because of its medical properties and also of its beauty the linden became the tree of life even in pre-historic Central Europe.

In Greece, however, the linden thrives only inland. That is why it did not appear in popular Greek culture and left only a trace in Greek mythology.

Later the Romans celebrated Jupiter's oak growing in front of his temple in Rome. But the pine tree, which related to the Great Mother, the goddess Cybele, enjoyed no less importance in Roman public life. It is the ancient symbol of fertility because it produces cones with seeds all through the year. In early Christianity in Italy the pine became the tree of life and it was often symbolically depicted with a pine cone.

Roman writers of the first century - likeCollumela and Virgil and PliniusSecundusin his Naturalis Historia and others - described the linden only from a naturalistic point of view.

During the Roman times and later, under German domination, the inhabitants of the western parts of Central Europe gradually assumed the dominant customs but they conserved the old village structure and its traditions. This can still be seen in today's Germany where there is a kind of border close to Kassel, which separates two areas, one with a popular linden tree tradition (in the southern part) from the other with a popular oak tree tradition (in the northern part).

In the Middle Ages the southern part of Central Europe, where the linden first appeared in popular culture, was the first part to be converted to Christianity.

Golden bough with linden leaves

Golden bough, a 70cm sapling with linden leaves, elaborated in wood and bronze, completely gold plated. In 1984, it was unearthed at the famous Celtic Oppidum of Manching near Ingolstadt (Bavaria), 3rd - 1st century AD. It symbolizes the tree of life. But the Celts tree of life was the oak, in comparison to the Veneti, who worshipped the linden as their tree of life. If the linden bough was found at the Celtic Oppidum of Manching, then this is a sign of the Veneti legacy in a Celtic world. In the Roman era, Bavaria was called Vindelicia. Indeed, often the Celtic and the Venetic cultural traditions are interwoven. A fact, which is still ignored by the propagators of the Celtic ideology.(cf.Echo- article:Celtic ideology on the march?)(cf.The Vends and the Celts)

Consequently the linden, and not the oak or some other tree, became the Christian "arbor vitae" for Central Europe. It symbolized also the mystic "lignum vitae" - lignum sanctae crucis, the wood of the Cross - represented as a tree in paradise which would provide redemption for mankind when it became green.

For this reason the greening linden tree,lignum vitae, appears in many legends originating in Central Europe. It also appears here as the most frequent motif in Medieval art.

See, for example, the image from the 12th century - here enclosed - that reflects clearly the spirit of that period.

It is the image of a knight, sworn to keep the "ordo Dei" (God's order) standing between two leaved linden trees with tops in the form of a cross (lignum vitae) having three roots each. One appears as a young branch, meaning the vigour of life, while its roots are symbolizing the ground of life - the God of the righteous.

For this reason the linden, or even more frequently, its branches,are found in coats of arms of the Middle Ages in Central Europe where the linden leaf is often placed beside the lily, the most important of all plants in those times.

It is presumed that the linden on most blazons of noble families in Central Europe reflected only a heraldic sign without the legendary meaning of the linden tree. But the crests with the linden leaves over coats of arms belonging to rulers of countries gave every reason to believe that this image recalls the old tree of life of Cental Europe. These crests pertained to the folling rulers:

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Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (Zuerich, ca. 1340)

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King of Germany (Donaueschingen, 1433)

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King of Bavaria (Zuerich, ca. 1340)

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King of Bohemia (Konstanz, 1483)

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Duke of Carinthia (since 1363)

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Count of Tyrol (Konstanz, 1483)

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Landgrave of Hesse (shield, ca. 1450)

Notes:

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Zuerich ca. 1340 (Zuericher Wappenrolle),

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Donaueschingen 1433 (Donaueschinger Wappenbuch),

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Konstanz 1484 (Oesterreichische Chronik von Conrad Gruenenberg).

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Furthermore, the linden is found in many coats of arms of Central European towns.

One of the more characteristic town signets of this kind belongs to Krems on the Danube (Austria) bearing the date 1318, in which appears a linden tree and under it the shields of Austria (Red-White-Red) and Styria of Carantania (Panther).

In popular culture the place under the linden was the centre of all the social life of villages and towns in Central Europe. In Berlin the famous street "Unter den Linden"recalls this tradition.

In the Alpine area the linden tree in the middle of the village was the meeting place of the villagers. Here the elders, under the guidance of the mayor, had their sessions in which they talked about administrative and judicial affairs.

In connection with the Privilegium maius of 1358, Rudolph IV the Founder, duke of Austria (Carantania), let elaborate the great seal, the reverse of which showed the Duke himself standing on two stages (the sign of the Archhunter), and bearing a crown denoted as a hat (the sign of the Palatin Archduke). In the following centuries its original form with one bow appeared on top of the Austrian coat of arms as Archducal Hat of the Habsburg hereditary lands, that had their roots in ancient Carantania.

This hat has no historical name. However, it must be considered most likely as a progress of the traditional old Slovenian Hat used in the enthronement ceremony. The original Ducal Hat appeared for the first time in Inner Austria, the Habsburg name for Carantania, and thereaftrer it was worn by the Leopoldine line of the Habsburg family. In 1453 under Frederic III, the first Emperor of the Leopoldine line of the Habsburg stock, the Privilegium maius, and with it also the above mentioned hat was acknowledged as a state ensign.

The Swabian Mirror (Schwabenspiegel, circa 1275) was the oldest historical source that documented the installation of the dukes of Carantania (later Carinthia). It mentions also the Slovenian Hat (Windischer Hut) that was put on the head of the duke during the enthronement ceremony. The aforesaid source describes it as follows: »A gray Slovenian Hat with a gray cord and four leaves suspended from its brim.« The pictures of this hat on signets show that the leaves were those of a linden, the old Slovenian tree of life. It was a common hat characteristic for Slovenian peasant people in that period and it symbolized the power conferred to the duke from the hand of a peasant, representing the people.

In 1358, when the Duke of Habsburg Rudolph IV »the Founder« imparted coats of arms to those provinces, which had none at that time, he assigned the Slovenian Hat to the Slovenian March (later known as Lower Carniola, Dolenjsko). However, the hat on this coat of arms bore the heraldic colours: a sable hat with red lining and red cord on a golden shield. It was placed on the Emperor's great coat of arms, where it remained until 1915.

The Carantanian Hat - an ancient sign of Sovereignty

After the decline of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, many kingdoms and principalities or duchies arose in Western Europe, as for example that of the Visigoths in Spain, of the Ostrogoths in Italy, of the Burgunds in France and, equally important, that of the Franks in Western Germany and Northern France.

The victory of the Frankish majordomo Charles Martel over the Moslem Arabs near Poitiers in 732 enjoined on the Frankish family of Carolingians the role of protectors of Christian in Europe, which was recognized also by the Pope in Rome.

Gradually the Franks imposed their supremacy upon the greatest part of European nations. But this was rather a protection of Christian communities, because they granted to them their own lex (law), which embraced, above all, their social structure and their self-government. This signified, expressed in modern terms, the conserving of the separate statehood of those nations, who later became part of the Holy Roman Empire, when it was established with the crowning of Charlemagne as Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in 800.

Some of those leges (laws) are well-known in historiography. Such is the lex Salica appertaining to the Franks, then the Edictum Theodorici of the Ostrogoths, the Edictum Rothari of the Lombards the lex Alamannorum of the Swabians, the lex Bavariorum of the Bavarians, the lex Saxonum of the Saxons, etc.

Many of those leges were preserved also in the Medieval kingdoms. The Lombardic law in Italy was found in the judicial book Lombarda. The Visigoth law in Spain, for example, was subsumed in the judicial book Antiqua that remained in force also under the Arabian occupation. According to this law, women were also able to become heiresses to the throne in Spain and in England.

In France and in German duchies, in conformity with the Salic law there were only male successors to the throne. The regulations of the Saxon law are to be found in the 13th century books of the Saxenspiegel (Saxon Mirror) and the Schwabenspiegel (Swabian Mirror); the former was used in Northern, the latter in Southern German countries.

Institutio Sclavenica

The Slovenian duchy of Carantania, situated in the Eastern Alps, had its own laws like other nations in Europe at that time. Yet in 745 it was joined with the Frankish Empire after it had consented to accept Christianity. After the division of the Empire in 828 it belonged, together with the German duchies of Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia and Saxony, to the Francia Orientalis, i.e., to the Kingdom of the Eastern Franks.

The Carantanian law, the so-called institutio Sclavenica, was never registered in a Codex but was conserved in social customs, handed down from generation to generation, and it was consequently referred to by historical sources as the consuetudo Sclavorum. Among other things in distinction to other laws, specially to those of German nations, it recognized the right of the female to have her property at free disposal, and to enjoy the rights of heredity, and even the right of succession of familia, in case where there was no male successor.

The Carantanian duke Arnulf, later King and Emperor (ca. 850 - 899), a natural son of Liudvina (Liutswind), a Carantanian lady of noble rank, and of Carlman, a royal prince of the family of the Eastern Carolingians, was accepted as the legal ruler of Carantania, through the line of his mother. In 887, the Carantanians accompanied their duke Arnulf with an entire army to the Diet of the Eastern Franks in Trier, and had him elected as their King in the presence of the assembly of the princes. In 896, Arnulf received the Emperor's crown by Pope Formosus in Roman.

In 952 under Duke Henry, the younger brother of Otto I, King and later Emperor, Carantania became a grand duchy, composed of the Dukedom of Carinthia and some marches. It extended from Bohemia to Verona in Italy. Until 976, Carantania and nearby Bavaria shared the same duke as their ruler. In 1012 Duke Adalbero (Eppenstein) was appointed to reign Carantania. He was married with Beatrix, a Swabian Princess of Carolingian descent from the mother's line. Therefore, Duke Adalbero was a man of high standing, and he was the beginner of the Carantanian dynasty ( 1269). Nevertheless, in the following two centuries the marches advanced to dukedoms. In this way the old Carantania was divided into many countries.

In addition to the Dukedom of Carinthia, that conserved the old institutio Sclavenica, there was also the Dukedom of Styria in 1180, the former Carantanian march. It incorporated also other marches that kept the Carantanian political tradition.

Another dukedom, that derived from the Carantanian march, precisely from the Eastern March, was Austria. In 976, the Eastern March was given in administration to Margrave Leopold, son of the Carantanian duke Berthold. Margrave Leopold was the beginner of a dynasty, which 70 years later took on the name of Babenberg ( 1249).

In 1156 the Eastern March became the Dukedom of Austria and it received on this occasion some privileges by the Emperor Frederic I Barbarossa, which in historiography are called Privilegium minus. One of those privileges was the right of succession in the female line, i.e., in sense of the Carantanian law.

The Insignia

In 1282 the Habsburg family obtained dominion in Austria and in Styria, in 1335 also in Carinthia and in Carniola. In this way the entire territory of ancient Carantania got a unique lord. Since then Carinthia, Styria and Carniola, and later also Trieste, the March Istria and the County of Gorizia, formed an association called Inner Austria, which carried on the state and political tradition of Carantania.

Austria was not a historical duchy. Therefore it did not possess its own historical lex like Carinthia (Carantania) and those duchies that were part of the former Frankish Kingdom, and later belonged to the Kingdom of the Eastern Franks: Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, Saxony and Carantania. The princes of these duchies and their immediate provinces had the right to elect the King and Emperor.

After 1257 the above mentioned right to elect was reserved for the so-called Princes Electors. According to the Golden Bull of 1356, this honour belonged to those, who possessed a high ranking office in the Emperor's Court: Archsteward, Archcellarman, Archmarshall, Archchamberlain, the Chancellors of Germany, Burgundy and Italy. These chancellors were respectively also the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne.

At one time, the high office of Archhunter (arcimagister venator) belonged to the Carantanian duke. However, during the electoral reform Carantania was already divided into several duchies, and obviously the historical duchy of Carinthia was not able to put forward its historical right of high office. In this way the Carinthian duke lost his position in the group of the Princes Electors.

The ancient right of Archhunter or Archmaster of Hunt pertaining to the Carinthian, i.e. Carantanian duke, are remembered in several sources like the Swabian Mirror of ca.1275, the Chronicler Ottokar ca. 1306, Abbot Johannes Victoriensis ca. 1342, and others.

According to the report in the Swabian Mirror, the Duke of Carinthia was the Archmaster of Hunt of the Roman King - des Roemischen Reiches Jaegermeister. The title »Roman King« belonged to the former King of the Eastern Franks, later also called King of Germania. Furthermore, the Swabian Mirror reports, that in the ceremony of the inthronization of the Carinthian duke a Slovenian Hat was put on his head - vnd setzen Im ouch ainen Grauen windischen hut vff...

It is of great interest to learn from one particular report of the Chronicler Ottokar, that a Carantanian man did not have to remove his hat in front of his duke. This was the right of the free Carantanian man. The same right belonged also to the Carantanian duke, he did not have to take off his hat in front of the King, since he was a Windischer Herre (Slovenian Lord), and such was the right in his country.

When Abbot Johannes wrote about the inthronization he did not forget to mention the hat - indutus habitu pilleo... The hat played obviously an important part in the Carantanian insignia.

At that time the ancient Kingdom of the Eastern Franks was usually known as the Germanic Kingdom (not to be mistaken with German). As mentioned above, after 1257, only the so-called Princes Electors reserved the right to elect the King, and thereafter the Emperor. According to the Golden Bull of 1356, prepared by the Emperor Carl IV of Luxembourg, this honour belonged only to those in high ranking offices at the Emperor's Court. However, the duke of Austria and the Carantanian provinces, a Habsburg, was not acknowledged as possessor of a high ranking office and consequently could not be a prince elector.

Thus, in 1359 the Duke of Habsburg, Rudolf IV, forged a deed named Privilegium maius, in which he tried to prove that Emperor Frederick I »Barbarossa« imparted Austria, when it was elevated to a dukedom (1156). This resulted in the issue of special rights that made the Austrian dukes equal with the princes electors. Among these rights the honour of the Archhunter in the Kingdom (archimagister venator) and the Palatine Archduke (palatinus archidux) deserve special attention.

In sense of the latter, the title of the Palatin Archduke, and the right to receive his fief sitting on horseback with a scepter in his hand and with the Ducal Hat on his head (superposito ducali pilleo ), i.e., not on his knees like other lords, derived from the institutio Sclavenica.

In fact these rights had ben taken over from Carantanian traditions. They were connected with the ceremony of the installation of the Carantanian (Carinthian) dukes. But the Privilegium maius was recognized as falsified and therefore was not acknowledged at the Emperor's Court. However, it remained the aim of the political aspiration of the Habsburg dukes.

In 1379, the Habsburgian provinces were divided among two brothers: Albert III, the elder of them, received Austria with its centre in Vienna; the younger one, Leopold III, received Inner Austria (Carantania), with its centre in Graz. The latter was succeeded by his sons. One of them, Ernest, was nicknamed »the Iron« (ruled 1411 - 1424). Duke Ernest the Iron assumed the title of Archduke. In 1414, he arrived in Carinthia, where he let install himself at the ancient Princes Stone (Knezji kamen) near the Castle of Karnburg, from there he bestowed the fiefs and reasoned quarrels sitting on the Ducal Throne (Vojvodski stol) in the field of Svatne.

His son, Duke Frederick V, Frederick IV (1440) as King, and Frederick III as Emperor (1452) made the Privilegium maius a legal state document in 1453 .

The Ducal Hat became finally a state insignia. It is still conserved in Graz, the onetime chieftown of Inner Austria (Carantania), and it obviously represents the tradition of the Carantanian Hat. Originally it was a Slovenian one, a popular hat. But in the feudal period it did not correspond with the rank of a ruler, i.e. a duke or archduke, for this purpose another ducal hat was elaborated, in fact a crown.The town of Graz was, and it is still today, also the chieftown of the Austrian province of Styria. Therefore, the insignia in question is mostly known as »Styrian Hat«. But in this way, its historical and political traditions are not remembered.